About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Song of This Place is a full-length drama by Joy Coghill. Inspired by legendary Canadian artist Emily Carr – with her animals, oddities and burning artist's soul – Song of This Place combines actors and puppets in a powerful play the magic of the theatrical experience and the intricacies of the artist's journey.

Song of This Place is the story of an aging actor who wants to play Emily Carr, only to find that the eccentric, cantankerous Carr will not let her. The confrontation between Carr, and Frieda, the actress who wishes to portray her, provides debate and eventual illumination for the characters. Both a portrait of the artist Emily Carr and an investigation into the process of liberation required for the creation of art.

Song of This Place premiered in 1987 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, and was remounted in 2004 at at UBC's Frederic Wood Theatre.

Cast: 2 women

What people say:

"...a triumph for Coghill. It is her first play, but clearly reflects a deep knowledge of, and ease with, the playwright's craft. The stage conventions Coghill employs and exploits make this self-conscious drama masterful." — The Georgia Straight (Vancouver)

"A bold example of honest risk-taking, filled with moments of illumination, thick with character, at once literate and accessible – a non-narrative bundle of people and ideas, dumped in our lap like a gift for us to take away and toy with." — The Province (Vancouver)

About the Playwright:

Joy Coghill Thorne O.C. (1926-2017) was an acclaimed Canadian actor, director, playwright, and humanitarian. A trailblazer in the Canadian theatre community, she was the first woman to hold the position of artistic director at the Vancouver Playhouse from 1967-69, before going on to numerous acting roles, and more than 40 years later she founded Western Gold, the country's first professional theatre company for senior actors. One of her best-known works as a playwright is Song of This Place about Emily Carr. She was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada in 1991, and received a Governor General's Award for the Performing Arts in 2002.